


After

by Lady_Layla



Category: The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: After Frank drops Micro Off, Alternate Universe, F/M, He goes to Karen's, One-Shot, Thanksgiving, does this count as an au, since it happens after the show ends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-07 10:12:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12838995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Layla/pseuds/Lady_Layla
Summary: Frank Castle decides to take his After one step at a time. Which is how he finds himself standing in front of Karen Page's door on Thanksgiving after dropping David off to his family.





	After

**Author's Note:**

  * For [evil bunny wolf (evil_bunny_king)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/evil_bunny_king/gifts).



> This sort of just came to me because I was a little disappointed that Karen wasn't in the last ep of The Punisher. Thanks to EBK as always for the beta assist <3 <3

Frank’s standing outside of her apartment not sure if he should knock, not sure of his welcome.

_I don’t have a war to fight_ .

He can hear her in there, talking to herself and walking around, and for a second his mind flashes back to the elevator, before she urged him to go.

_To be honest… I’m scared._

Suddenly the door is pulled open and Karen’s standing there, still dressed from her work day minus her shoes, and she doesn’t look the least bit surprised that he’s there.

“Are you going to come in?”

She turns, heading back into her apartment, leaving the door open for him to follow and he does, shutting it behind him.

When he takes the short steps down the hallway to her living room she’s bent over, picking up papers and pictures from their scattered positions on the floor. Her usual method of piecing together a story.

Except this time he sees a picture of Billy, of the carousel, of those two kids. Billy’s picture has ridiculous red marks over his head that he’s sure are supposed to be devil horns and there’s an X across the rest of his face.

“Writing a story?” His voice comes out flatter than he wants it too, but Karen doesn’t look up until she’s collected everything and shoved it into a folder that she slides into an empty drawer.

“Putting pieces together.”

He opens his mouth, but she starts talking first.

“A neighbor texted to tell me that there was a weird man standing in front of my apartment and asking if she should call the cops.”

Well… that’s one question answered, but he’s not sure it’s what he was going to ask.

They stand in silence for a few minutes before Karen sighs and heads in the direction of what must be her bedroom, pushing the door to block his view inside, but not shutting it completely.

“Want to stay for dinner?” Her voice calls as he settles himself on the couch.

“Depends on what you’re having.” He replies, the end trailing off as she emerges from her room in sweatpants and a loose shirt that she’s swimming in, hair tucked behind her ears.

She snorts at him and pads into the kitchen to dig several delivery menus out of a drawer before returning to thrust them at him.

“You pick.”

He starts sorting through the menus and her phone rings.  
“Foggy. Hi.” She says as she settles on the opposite end of the couch, curling her legs up and dragging a blanket from the back of the couch over them.

Frank pays more attention to the conversation than the menus as Karen assures her friend she’ll be fine by herself tonight and laughs as she wishes him luck having Thanksgiving dinner with Marci’s parents before hanging up… only for her phone to ring again.

She stays on the phone with Trish Walker longer than she did with Foggy, thanking the other woman for inviting her over. This time she makes eye contact with Frank, one foot sliding towards him so she can poke him in the thigh, as she tells Trish she isn’t going to be alone and to please not worry.

He doesn’t tense up as she admits to being with someone like he might have before, just pulls her foot into his lap and turns his head back to the menus. He doesn’t miss the look on her face either, stunned and pleased, as she tells Trish to give Jessica her best.

Jessica Jones, a drunken PI that’s practically unbreakable, his mind supplies. She was there with Cage and the other guy when Red let a building come crashing down on him.

Wincing internally, he curses himself. He’s been so wrapped up and busy with his own shit he hasn’t even taken a moment to find out how Karen feels about all of that.

Shit.

Does she even know who Red really is… was?

She must. Red might have placed her up on some shining pedestal, but Frank knows she’s not like that and she’s not stupid.

A soft, “So?” draws him out of his thoughts and he looks over to see Karen watching him.

He hands over a menu for Thai and she smiles at him before taking up her phone once again to place their order.

Maria would have never been okay with anything less than a full feast. Even if he wasn’t feeling up to it.

As they wait for their food Frank tells Karen his side of the story and doesn’t leave anything out, not even the hallucination of Maria telling him to come home with her.

There are tears shining in her eyes and when he tells her how he’d finally decided to let his wife go, let the kids go, with a simple, “I am home.” the tears leave tracks down her cheeks and she doesn’t bother to wipe them away.

Her tears are replaced with a hard look when he tells her about Billy, about those kids on the carousel, and Madani. The hard look is replaced with a vicious look that he’s never seen on her face before when he tells her exactly what he did to Billy and she takes one of his hands in hers.

They both jump a little when her doorbell rings to signal that the food has arrived and he offers to get it while she sets the table.

Karen’s eyes dart over to her little living room table before she laughs at him and he just rolls his eyes.

“You know what I meant, Page.”

When he comes back with the bags she has in fact put two place-mats on the table and there’s a large quilt folded up on the floor for them to sit on.

It’s her turn to talk while they eat and she tells him all about Red and his little group of assholes. His words.

She tells him about bonding with Trish Walker and Claire (“Who I should really introduce you to, Frank.”) and all about standing in that police station with Foggy as the “Defenders” came limping their way back in… without Red.

In the silence after her story Frank takes a deep breath, then another, and one more for good luck as he looks at her.

“If it was you, Karen, who was brainwashed or turned into a zombie or whatever bullshit and I had a chance to save you. I would have stayed down there too.”

“I know.”

He helps with the dinner clean up and as he’s moving towards the door, but not really going far she echos his words from a lifetime ago.

“Stay. Please.”

Frank pauses and then nods once. The relief is evident and she drags out another blanket because he insists on taking the couch while assuring her he’ll still be there when she wakes up.

That night he dreams of Maria and the kids in the park, but it’s not a nightmare. The kids are running ahead and his sweet wife is giving chase as he walks along slowly behind them all.

Maria turns to him and he can hear another echo of something he said, “Hold on with both hands, Frank.” and she goes to catch up with Frank Jr. and Lisa before his dream fades becoming something that he can’t remember and isn’t important.


End file.
